Lily's Story

Island Lake, IL

When you are doing the right thing for your child, you seek out expertise. But it’s the things you don’t seek out that can also be key factors in ensuring your child’s health. Kiera and her daughter, eight-year-old Lily, discovered their unexpected resources because of the Ronald McDonald House, and they want you to know about them.

Kiera and her family found out in 2011 that Llly has the rare cancer Angiosarcoma. They sought treatment at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, where they learned that Lily needed seven weeks of radiation therapy. They also discovered the House, which has allowed Kiera to stop worrying about her budget and instead focus on Lily’s care. It was in the House that they met the unexpected. From art therapy to prepared meals to a welcoming staff, it was like a new holiday was born where you receive constant gifts. Then the other layer of unexpected help manifested. Kiera discovered that the parents acted as a network of knowledge, sharing experiences from case to case in a way that doctors don’t network. Kiera’s first realization of this was when the experts she interacted with were not able to answer one of her insurance questions but another parent was able to.

Kiera is honest about the hard road ahead and that she is part of a network of experts and parents that is invisible to most us. She doesn’t leave things at the practical, though. Kiera lives for the future too, inspired by Lily, a girl who ever-assumes life continues to roll on to greet more wonderful surprises, who is always wondering what they’re going to be doing for her next birthday.

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